• Name: Aikin, John
• Gender: Male
• Birth Date: 15  January  1747
• Death Date: 7  December  1822
• Occupation: physician
• Occupation: writer

The Aikin family is rather large and comprised of dissenters. Both Aikin and Aickin (often J Aickin) appear in Godwin’s diary, but it seems probable that Aickin in fact picks out the actor James Aickin and is unrelated to the Aikin entries.. Initials and titles include A, C, Aikin jr and junr, Aikin senr, Dr, ja., and L

John Aikin I (1664–1756) married Anne Bentall Aikin (Mrs John Aikin I), the daughter of a well-to-do London citizen, a deacon in Daniel Burgess’s dissenting congregation . John I and Anne had one child, John Aikin II (1713 -1780) who was one of the first pupils at Philip Doddridge’s academy at Market Harborough where he was also later a tutor. He married Jane Jennings, and had two children – Anna Laetitia Barbauld (née Aikin; 1743-1825) and John III, MD (1747 – 1822). John Aikin III opposed the Test and Corporation Acts. He went to Dorking in 1798 due to ill health for four months before settling in Stoke Newington but left his retreat to visit friends. He associated with Joseph Johnson and his circle.

John Aikin III mentions a London party:

'On Tuesday I dined with Phillips,who had got his tip-top literary acquaintence together. There was Sir John Dillon, author of the account of Spain and other things, a sort of broken-down old gentleman; Peter Pindar, Mr Edgeworth, the Belshams, Dr Gregory, Hodwin, Prince Hoare, and two or three more…’ (Georgian Chronicle). This corresponds with Godwin’s entry on
18.06.1805: ‘Fables, p. 178/2; fin. Dine at Philips’s , w. Aikin, Edgworth, Dillon, Hoare, Wolcot, Gregory, 2 Belshams, Keys, and miss Owenson : theatre, w. Hoare, Review . meet Hollis . Murphy dies’.

Aikin is referred to by just his surname, which suggests that ‘Aikin’ is generally John III, MD. The family tree gets rather confusing, as it is inclusive of 9 Johns (2 of whom are doctors) and 5 Anna Laetitias. ‘L’ however almost certainly refers to Lucy (who mentions her concern for the ailing Godwin in an 1832 letter to Rev. William Shepherd) (Georgian Chronicle). ‘A’ is probably Anna Barbauld’s uncle Arthur, a lecturer in Chemistry and Secretary to the Royal Society of Arts. ‘C’ is likely Charles Rochemont Aikin (1775 – 1846), married to Anne Wakefield and the son of Anna Laetitia Aikin and Rochemont Barbauld.

'Aikin', 'Aikin Senr' and 'Dr Aikin' have been taken to be John III. Also, '2 Aikins' has been taken to refer to John III and his wife Martha (she - 'Mrs Aikin' remains uncoded as there appears to be no relationship of note between her in her own right and Godwin). 'Aikin jnr' is coded as Charles who was adopted by the Barbaulds. 'Ja. AIkin' and other variants have been left uncoded as he appears, by dint of his location in Otley, to be unrelated. Also there is no mention of a James in the Aikin entries in the DNB.

Godwin recorded his death.

• DNB
• Betsy Aikin-Sneath, Georgian Chronicle: Mrs. Barbauld and her Family (London: Methuen, 1958), pp. 10, 107, 125, 132, 261.

This table lists the people this person is most frequently noted with in the diary.